The 3×3 Garden Series (and no, I’m not talking dimensions…)

With the New Year upon us, I’ve been thinking it’s time for a fresh, new idea for the Bulb Blog. Sure, there are a million and one gardening topics I could cover (and still intend to continue doing) but I like to keep things interesting, both for you as my readers and for myself as the writer!

In my search for a new idea, I came across a handful of other blogs which followed a pattern of some sort. That is, they published a post on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, etc.) with a continuing theme. One of these such themes is a common trend in style blogs and is called “The 30 x 30 Remix”. The idea behind this “fashion remix” is to take 30 different articles of clothing and/or accessories and challenge yourself to only use those 30 selected items in your wardrobe for the next 30 days. It really is quite an interesting concept as it forces a person to think outside of the box and use the items in his or her closet on a more frequent basis resulting in a more creative look and a smaller shopping budget.

I began to think about how this could apply to the gardening world. As all of us gardeners look toward spring and begin dreaming of what we’ll plant once the ground thaws, would it be possible for me to take 30 different plants and arrange them in 30 different ways? I wondered. While the answer was yes, it was possible, I decided it really wasn’t all that practical. After all, if a gardener purchases 30 different plants, he or she will most likely only arrange and plant them once. As you all know, a plant or bulb is not like a piece of clothing in that it cannot be reused (or re-planted) day after day. However, a bulb or plant is not unlike your favorite scarf or sweater in that it can be adjusted or combined with other articles of clothing (or plants) to suit that day’s (or garden’s) specific need! Therefore, the idea of the “3×3 Garden Series” was born.

Here’s how it will work: starting next week Friday (January 20th) and running until the last week of April, I will post a weekly blog highlighting 3 different amazing plants or bulbs currently trending in the spring-planted gardening community. These plants may be tall, short, sun-loving, shade-loving…however, the three which I highlight will all be compatible with one another, meaning they will complement each other in height, bloomtime, and bloom color, as well as sunlight and space requirements. I am then challenging myself to come up with 3 different layouts which uses the same number of each of these plants! In doing so, I am hoping to expand your possibilities in your landscape no matter what shape or type of garden you have! And the best part: Each one of these gardens will be available as a “trio collection” from Holland Bulb Farms for purchase at a discounted price to make your shopping easy easy easy!

So…

3 different plants each week…

3 different layouts for those plants each week…

16 total weeks in my 3×3 Garden Series…

48 total plants used in 48 different layouts!

Here’s to hoping these next 16 weeks fill you with imagination and inspiration for your garden!